Earth Garden Building Book

Design and Build Your Own House

Updated Edition

Robert Rich   Keith Smith   Illustrations, Bibliography, Glossary, Index 328 pages Publisher: Viking 2005

Paperback - ISBN: 0670028630 - AU $49.95

Description  | Contents  | Related Titles  | Related Categories Description At a time when housing costs and interest rates have put the Australian dream of owning a house beyond the reach of many people, Bob Rich and Keith Smith show how even the most impractical person can learn to build their own home. The authors were not originally skilled craftsmen and they use their personal experiences, successes and failures to explain the building and design processes to beginners. Their approach is practical and analytical, but their language is straightforward and dynamic. The book covers a wide range of topics including: how to be your own architect and create energy efficient housing designs safeguarding the house from bushfires, cyclones and floods footings, floors, roofs, doors and windows mudbrick, rammed earth, stone and weatherboard walls building skills such as measuring, sawing, hammering, bricklaying and glass cutting information, advice and personal experiences from a variety of other builders. Contents Planning your home Why build? Building blues Design Be your own architect The design process Finding three dimensions in two Design games Models help you to design Solar efficient design Living in an Alistair Knox house Bushfire defensive house Flood defensive house Cyclone defensive house Navigating in the Timber Framing Code Earth Walls Good design saves on plumbing Kitchen design On site Safety on site Site access and layout Setting out the site Setting out the building outline Setting up Bracing Scaffolding Homemade ladders Strong foundations Footings and floors Concrete slab Vertical concreting Organising a concrete pour Pouring and finishing concrete Earth floors Slate jigsaw floor Ant bed floors From the earth Any soil will do Quick and easy mudbrick moulds Dropping a mudbrick What is a good earth wall? Rammed earth Ramming tools Forts in the desert Mudbrick Mudbrick laying Mixing mortar Mudbrick arches Formwork cob (poured earth) Earth brick presses Strawbale: Low cost sustainable building with strawbale Footings Loadbearing strawbale walls Earth/lime render for strawbale walls Designing for a strawbale home More about mud Rendering earth walls Fixing things to an earth wall Many ways to mix mud Puddled mudbricks Mud mixing by trailer How the Muddies built a monastery Bottle mosaics Stone endures Types of building stone Slipform stonework Tonnes of granite Fourteen slipforms Splitting bush sandstone Building with bluestone Building stone arches Two faced stonework Our granite house Woodworking skills Measuring Sawing Hammering Using an adze Adzing tips Timber Post and beam design Lift that pole Basic pole shelter Pole frame house Sumatran pole house Laying a timber floor Building a stud-frame wall Building adventures Nailing on weatherboards A roof overhead Roof framing Flat or cathedral ceiling Constructing a skillion roof Constructing a gable roof Constructing a hip roof Roof trusses Putting on roof battens Finishing gable ends Fascia spouting Nailing on roof metal Sequence of roofing operations The Pink Palace Doors and windows Hanging a door Windows Cutting glass Puttying Creative recycling Creative recycling Denailing Car cases Apple box shingles Paper mudbricks Appendices Access directory Bibliography Glossary Index Related Titles The Encyclopedia of Wood Related Categories Landlinks : Building